


We Fell In Love By Chance

by graceC



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Gay Love, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Smut, alec lightwood - Freeform, angsty, gay relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-03-08 04:12:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18886939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/graceC/pseuds/graceC
Summary: Nicholas Brinder is a shadowhunter. He has lived at the New York Institute for 5 years. His father died fighting the circle when Nick was 15, and his mom died in childbirth. He quickly grew close to Alec, Jace, and Isabelle. He sees Jace and Isabelle as siblings, but Alec has always been something more.





	1. Chapter 1

Nicholas Brinder is a shadowhunter. He has lived at the New York Institute for 5 years. His father died fighting the circle when Nick was 15, and his mom died in childbirth. He quickly grew close to Alec, Jace, and Isabelle. He sees Jace and Isabelle as siblings, but Alec has always been something more.  
Nick was comfortable with sexuality, he was bisexual and proud. He knew when he was 14 and one of his Shadowhunter friends ask to kiss him to see if he was straight or not. His friend was, but Nick was not.  
Nick has been in love with Alec for as long as he's known him.   
Nick was awoken by a consistent pounding on his door, he groaned and placed his pillow over his face, intent on going back to sleep.  
"Nick! Come on! We have a mission!" Isabelle said from the other side of the door. Nick sighed deeply through his nose but rolled out of bed.  
"Be there in five!" Nick replied. He stumbled over to his closet and yanked down a white v-neck. He tossed the day-old Nirvana t-shirt to the floor and slipped on the new one. He turned slowly in a circle, looking for his black skinny jeans. He spotted them in his window seal. He furrowed his eyebrows,   
"What the fuck, Nick." He muttered to himself. He half walked half stumbled to the jeans, while attempting to kick off his sweatpants at the same time.   
As Nick left his room, he slipped on his simple, gold banded ring and his jean jacket.   
Nick found the rest of his Merry Little band of demon hunters in the kitchen. Nick beelined straight for the coffee, not bothering to say hello.   
"Morning, sleepy head." Jace greeted, a smirk on his face. Nick groaned into his coffee cup,  
"It's too early for me to deal with your bullshit, Jace." Jace's smirk grew. "Its 12 p.m." Jade stated happily, "but you got in pretty late, what was her name?"   
Nick didn't notice Alec's jaw tightening, "I didn't catch his name."  
"Can we focus on the mission, please?" Alec asked, annoyed. Nick gave him a two-fingered salute and motioned for him to continue. "Shapeshifter."  
"Fantastic." Nick sighed and placed his coffee mug in the sink. He headed for the weapons room; he could hear the other following.   
"I'm going to go change," Izzy said, before running upstairs. Alec sighed, Jace smirked and Nick handed Alec his bow.   
Nick would just assume rather let Izzy do as she pleases, instead of getting involved, which is no doubt with Alec is going to do.   
Nick grabbed his dagger belt, and clasped it around his waist and began outfitting it with Chinese ring daggers, his personal favorites. He also snatched his twin seraph blades off the rack. He picked up his back sheath and sighed,   
"I hate doing this." He muttered, still glaring at the fabric until it was gently taken out of his hands. He glanced up and met Alec's blue eyes.   
"I'll do it." Alec offered amusement shining in his eyes. Nick nodded and turned to face his back towards Alec. Alec took the two straps and clipped them onto the front and back two belt loops of Nick's jeans; then he slipped the sheath around his neck, and a shiver shot down Nicks back. Finally, Alec clipped the two prices together, his touch lingering for only a second before he pulled away and began placing runes on his arrows.   
Nick took a deep breath, steadying himself and then put his swords into his back sheath.   
The clicking of Izzy’s shoes alerted Nick to her presence as she strutted down the stairs. Alec’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline, his mouth set in a disapproving frown, while Jace suppressed a smile and glanced away.   
“Good choice. Demon’s dig blondes.” He said, Izzy, nodded smugly and twisted her silver snake bracelet on. Nick chuckled quietly and ran his tongue across his bottom lip.   
“I’ll get the clave to approve,” Alec said, monotonous. All three of his companions sighed.   
“By the time you do that, we’ll have killed six demons!” Jace exclaimed, walking back towards the door, his arms outstretched, an easy smile on his lips. Nick ignored the sharp pang of hurt when Alec stared at Jace for a beat, before shaking his head. Nick forced a smile on his lips and swung an arm around Alec’s shoulders. Izzy raised an eyebrow, and smirked but said nothing.   
“And anyway, my policy is it’s always better to ask for forgiveness over permission,” Nick stated, earning an approving nod from Jace. Izzy pointed at Nick,   
“See, he gets it!” Alec sighed deeply, and Nick smiled cheekily. He knew they had won.   
“Fine.” Nick dropped his arm back to his side and cheered, he grabbed Isabelle’s hand and twirled her around a few times, her laughter ringing throughout the institute. Alec’s lips twitched up slightly.   
Nick let go of Izzy, and launched himself at Jace, leaping easily onto his back. Jace groaned theatrically, though his amusement showed easily on his face.   
“Onwards, my loyal steed!” Nick exclaimed, Alec smiled and Izzy giggled when Jace grabbed Nick’s arm and flipped him over his head. Nick landed on his feet with a playful glare sent at Jace.   
Nick was easily one of the best shadowhunters anyone at the New York institute had ever met. He had the body of a swimmer, lean but toned. No matter how much he worked out, he knew he couldn’t build muscle like Alec or Jace. He was lithe and quick on his feet; speed over strength, though Nick was fairly strong. He also had the advantage of being a quick thinker, which the Clave thought was fantastic, but thanks to some mundane television, Nick knew he had ADHD. He never spoke of how his mind wasn’t fast in just combat, but all the time. His mind worked faster than anyone else’s and even he struggled to keep up sometimes.   
Nick seemed to have speed that no other shadowhunter could achieve without a rune, and it was the same way with reaction time, thanks to his consistently overactive brain.   
Jace and Nick were sparring partners most of the time, and every time they fought, people stopped what they were doing to watch. It was a show, intense and the most serious people ever saw Nick.   
But the real show lies in when Alec and Nick went at each other. They were hardly ever permitted to spare together, because of the sheer amount of stubbornness the two shared. They were each other's weaknesses. Alec, a long-range fighter, and Nick, better when he was up in your face. The part that awed most onlookers, was that Nick could get close enough to Alec to attack. It was a feat not many others could accomplish, Jace, his paratabai, was the only other one with that honor.   
Alec was fantastic with a bow and tended to stick to it if he could, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t also extremely good with a sword or staff. The opposite was true with Nick, he was a great shot and very talented with a whip, though both Lightwood siblings were far superior to him.   
The last time Hodge allowed them to spar, Nick needed three healing runes to deal with the deep cuts on his shoulder, chest, and back, along with his broken jaw; Alec broke two ribs, fractured his wrist and lost copious amounts of blood due to a cut on his side. This was a year ago, and needless to say, they hadn’t been allowed in the ring together since. 

 

Nick ran his hand through his dirty blonde hair, his sharp, alert hazel eye scanning the crowd. He found his hand briefly touching the scar running across his left eye, cutting diagonal, the stark white contrasting to his tanned skin.   
Nick was blind in that eye. No one else knew, except one pesky warlock who seemed to make it his business to know everything he could about Nick. It was one of the two true secrets he kept from his adopted family. He did well enough without it, though sometimes he couldn’t help wondering how much better he would be if he had vision in both eyes.   
He dropped his hand back to his side when he caught sight of the Asian man, who was really their shape-shifting demon. Nick made eye contact with Jace, who stood across from him, on the roof of a building. Jace nodded and signaled Alec, who signaled Isabelle. They all leapt from their various hiding places and walked side by side as they followed the demon in the direction of Pandemonium. Nick prayed Magnus wouldn’t see him, he didn’t need to explain to his shadowhunter friends how he was acquainted with the High Warlock of Brooklyn.   
Jace ran into a red-haired mundane, who snapped at him. The sight, interesting, Nick thought. He easily caught back up with Alec and Izzy, leaving Jace behind.   
“Jace!” Alec yelled, the blonde shot one last look at the mundane, before jogging over to join them.   
“All right, Izzy and I will go through the front. Nick, Alec, you guys go through the back. Stay hidden unless things go bad.” Jace order, Alec nodded dutifully. Nick scoffed, though he didn’t really know what he was scoffing at. Jace or Alec.   
“Things for us always go bad.” He muttered, Jace glared at him. Nick spun on his heel and began walking for the back door. He heard Alec behind him.   
“What was that?” Alec asked quietly. His hand wrapped tightly around the grooves of his bow, the muscles in his arms flexing. Nick swallowed and looked away,   
“Nothing.” He worked his jaw and ignored the look of disbelief Alec shot him.   
“Hey,” Alec caught his arm, and pulled Nick towards him, “Don’t lie to me.”   
Nick shook his head, exasperatedly. He didn’t even notice that Alec didn’t let go of his forearm, or just how close they actually were.   
He ran the hand that wasn’t in Alec grip through his hair. He met Alec’s eyes and noticed the concern swimming in the blue. Nick ignored the pang of guilt that shot down his spine.   
“Alec, I’m fine. Really.” He gave his most convincing smile. Alec tilted his head slightly,   
“Do you really think I can’t tell when your smile is fake?” Nick felt the blood rising in his cheeks. He pulled himself from Alec’s grip.   
“We should go. Izzy and Jace are waiting on us.” Nick didn’t wait for Alec to respond and slipped through the back door, the handles of his seraph blades in his hands.   
When they got into position, Jace was talking to their shapeshifter, his hands on her waist, and lips mere centimeters from her neck. As the pair watched, and Alec tensed, which Nick ignored, Jace activates his seraph blade.   
“Watch out!” A voice screamed, and Nick watched in surprise as the red-headed mundane from outside pushed the demon out of the way. Immediately, the other demons attacked, and without waiting for the signal, both Alec and Nick launched into the battle, cutting down demons left and right.   
While engaged in an intense fight with a shapeshifter disguised as a bouncer, a crippling pain shot through Nick’s left side. He gasped and barely moved in time to stop from getting sliced in half. Alec put an arrow in the demon’s heart, and shot him a concerned glance, before returning to demon killing.   
Another wave of pain rushed through Nick, he cried out, his legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor.   
“Nick!” Izzy yelled, sliding onto her knees beside him. Her brown eyes flitting over his body, looking for an injury. Nick knew, in the back of his mind, she wouldn’t find one.   
The pain hit him again, and his vision went black. He heard somebody scream, before realizing that it was him.   
“Adrian,” Nick muttered, his letters slurring together before unconsciousness took him. 

Alec stood over the medical cot where Nick lay, still sleeping. Hodge seemed to know what happened to Nick but refused to say, which led to Jace losing his temper and engaging in a screaming match with the older man. Isabelle hadn’t said a word, sitting to Alec’s left, on a wooden chair from the dining room.   
Nick shifted in his sleep, his white shirt riding up, and Alec noticed a rune he had never seen before. Izzy gasped,   
“Alec.” She said softly, gesturing to the rune, “It’s a parabatai rune.” 

Nick dreamt of his dad, Adrian, and Riley. Adrian and Riley Valentino, Nick’s best friends from the L.A institute, where he had lived before his dad died.   
Riley was Nick’s first boyfriend and his first love. They were together from Nick’s 14th birthday to the day he left, where they mutually decided it was best. That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt, Nick nursed that broken heart for months. He had never been the same. He slept around, and partied and threw himself into danger like it was the only thing that had ever been there for him. Which to Nick, it was.   
Nick woke slowly, first being able to feel the ache in his left ribs, and then hear the rustle of the people in the institute. Then, finally, he opened his eyes. The first thing he saw, was Alec, whose eyes were trained on Nick’s parabatai rune.   
“Alec.” Nick croaked, Alec’s eyes flew up to his face, relief flashing across his face.   
“You’re okay,” Alec said, though it sounded more like a question. Nick nodded and sat up, wincing. Izzy placed her hand on his back, to assist. He smiled at her in thanks.   
“What did I miss?” Nick asked, stripping off his old, and now dirty, white shirt. Alec’s face heated up and he dropped his gaze to the floor.   
Nick walked to the mirror and saw the nasty purple bruise over his parabatai rune. He touched it gently and hissed as pain shot up his ribs. He grabbed a spare plain black jacket, and slowly slipped it over his shoulders, and zipped it up before facing Alec and Izzy again.   
“Jace brought the red-headed mundane to the institute,” Alec spoke bitterly. Nick bit his lip to keep in a sarcastic comment.   
“Sounds like Jace,” Nick muttered instead and began walking out of the medical bay. He heard the siblings following him, and he made his way downstairs. He stopped in front of the monitors in the center of the room.   
“It’s stupid!” Alec exclaimed, “There is no such thing as new shadowhunters!”   
“I know.” Nick murmured, keeping his eyes fixed on the screens.   
A crack echoed throughout the building, Nick turned around, and his mouth dropped open when he saw a portal beginning to appear in the room. Most of the shadowhunters in the room reached for their weapons, including Alec and Izzy.   
The portal opened, and two people stumbled through it. A familiar blonde and brunette. Nick gasped softly, and the two boys turned to face him. Their eyes lit up at the sight of Nick.   
Nick ran for them, ignoring Alec’s warnings. Nick collided with the blonde, wrapping his arms around the boy tightly.   
“Adrian,” Nick said, his voice muffled by Adrian’s jacket. Adrian buried his face in the crook of Nick’s neck.   
“Nick.” He breathed, his voice cracking.   
“What am I? Chopped liver?” The brunette drawled, Nick and Adrian pulled away, and Nick stepped in front of the boy. They stared at each other for a beat, before Nick reached out and grabbed the other boy by the belt loops, and pulled him into a heated kiss. The brunette placed his hands on Nick’s neck.   
Adrian rolled his eyes and sighed loudly, and continuously until the two pulled away. The two rested their foreheads against each other and breathed deeply.   
“Good to see you too.” The brunette smirked, Nick laughed breathily.   
“Shut up, Riley.”   
“Uh, Nick?” Izzy asked hesitantly, Nick pulled away from Riley and turned to face the Lightwoods. “You know these people?”  
“You could say that,” Riley responded, amused, his chin resting on Nick’s shoulder. Nick rolled his eyes and flicked Riley’s forehead.   
“This is Adrian,” Nick introduced, gesturing at the boy, “My paratabai.” Adrian waved, a small smile on his face. “And this is his brother, Riley, my….” Nick hesitated.   
“Boyfriend.” Alec finished, bluntly. Nick and Riley both shook their heads,   
“No.” They said in unison. Alec raised a disbelieving eyebrow.   
“Really,” Adrian said. “They’re not.”   
“Not that I’m not ridiculously happy to see you guys, what are you doing here?” Nick inquired, twisting to face his parabatai, Riley backed away from Nick a step. Riley met Alec’s icy glare, and smirked, tilting his head slightly, a challenge clear on his face.   
Nick didn’t even look back, but he smacked Riley harshly in the back of the head. Riley scowled but didn’t do anything in retaliation.   
“To be completely honest, it was an accident,” Adrian answered honestly. “The spell said it would take us to where we felt the most, we assumed that would mean the L.A institute, but instead-”   
“It brought you to your parabatai.” Izzy interrupted, Adrian and Riley turned to her, “I’m Isabelle, the one glaring is my brother, Alec. Nice to meet you.”   
“We know who you are,” Adrian said, smiling. “The Lightwoods, Nick told us all about you.” Adrian winked at Nick, who flushed.   
“Well, he didn’t ever tell us about you,” Alec said. Riley rounded on Nick, who winced.   
“You didn’t tell them about us?” Riley exclaimed, faux outrage on his face, “we are a fundamental part of your life, and you kept us a secret!”   
“Were.” Nick correct.   
“What?”   
“Nothing. I didn’t tell them about you because to do so, I have to tell the story of I ended up at in New York, which would include….” Nick trailed off.   
“Your dad’s death.” Adrian finished, his face soft and understanding.   
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize." Riley said, frowning.   
Nick waved him off and turned back to the siblings. "I'll give them a tour. Will you contact the clave and the L.A institute?"  
Izzy nodded brightly, "of course! Go have fun!" She gripped Alec's bicep and pulled him away from the group. As he was being pulled away, Alec shot him a look, we're talking about this later, it said.   
"Come on," Nick said, gesturing towards the training room, ignoring Alec's look. "I think you'll like it."


	2. Chapter 2

Isabelle sat in boredom, her head rested in the palm of her left palm, staring at Alec as he paced.   
“-I mean, isn’t it suspicious to anyone else that people just keep showing up at the institute?! First Clary, and then them!” Alec gestures widley for Adrian and Riley, who are fighting in the training room.   
Izzy had to admit, they were impressive. They fought like parabatai, blocking or dodging almost every one of the other’s moves, like they could sense what was coming next. She supposed they had been sparring together their whole lives, so it only made sense.   
She wished she knew Alec that well.   
“Impressive, aren’t they?” Nick drawled from behind her. Izzy didn’t bother turning to face him, but she did lift up her head.   
“Yeah. They’re almost like parabatai.” Isabelle responded. Alec scoffed under his breath, which both NIck and Izzy ignored. “Makes me wonder what you and Adrian would be like.”   
Nick laughed, truly and fully laughed, and Izzy wondered if she’d ever actually heard a purely genuine laugh from Nick before. “Oh, it’ll be interesting, that’s for sure.”   
“We need to talk about this.” Alec interrupted, crossing his arms. The amusement left Nick’s eyes and he folded his hands behind his back.   
“Okay.”   
“How long are they staying?”   
“I don’t know. Not long.”   
Alec raised an irritated eyebrow, “You don’t know?”   
“No, Alec, I don’t. I didn’t exactly invite them here.” Nick snapped, a brief flash of hurt appeared on Alec’s face, but he schooled it back into nothingness before anyone could be sure.   
“You wanna do me a favor, Izzy?” Nick dismissed the conversation and sat in front of izzy.   
“Depends on what it is.”   
“Adrian and I, against you and Reily.” Nick wore a smirk on his face, it was a challenge.   
“Done.” Isabelle hopped up from her seat, joining Nick in leaning over the balcony.   
“Hey, losers!” Nick called, Adrian and Riley paused their fighting and looked up, “You up for a challenge?” 

Half the institute had gathered to watch. Including Jace, Clary and Alec, who were directly in front of the ring. Alec face was creased in concern, though no one knew who exactly he was concerned for. Jace’s eyes were alight with the fire that a fight brought, and Clary looked interested, but also concerned for Isabelle, whom she had grown rather fond of.   
Nick looked confident, almost cocky. He was laughing and messing around with Adrian, who looked equally as confident as Nick. Reily and Isabelle were conversing rather seriously, getting to know each other quickly, and deciding what tactics they were going to use.   
“It’s unfair.” Alec muttered, “Adrian and Nick are parabatai, they’ve fought together for years. Reily and Izzy just met each other.”   
“Come on!” Jace exclaimed, clapping Alec on the back, “You know Nick! He would never ask for an unfair fight!”   
“We’ll see.” Clary said, gesturing to the ring. Hodge was standing in the center of the ring, a whistle in hand.   
“Ready?” He asked both sides, they both nodded, “Go!” He blew the whistle, and quickly retreated.   
No one moved for a beat, and then it was chaos. They were moving so fast most people couldn’t keep up with what was happening. From what Alec could see, Adrian and Nick split up, circling around Izzy and Reily, and then rounding them up in the middle. Trapping them between Nick and Adrian.   
“Told you!” Reily yelled, Isabelle laughed and struck out backwards with her whip, wrapping it around Adrian’s ankle, who was standing in front of Reily, and snapped her wrist forwards, sending the blonde crashing to the floor. Reily backflipped over Izzy, and nearly landed right on top of Nick, his wooden sword missing Nick’s face by mere inches.   
But Nick was fast, inhumanly so. He danced around the blow, making it look easy, though it really wasn’t. Nick hit Reily in the left side harshly, and was gone before Reily could even turn to face him.   
Reily spun around, and saw Nick kick Isabelle in the stomach, sending the girl back a few feet. Adrian was back up now, the pair made eye contact and launched at Reily together.   
“Holy shit.” Jace whispered, his mouth open as he watched Reily block or dodge every one of the parabatai’s blows.   
“You’ve been practicing!” Nick yelled, a proud smile on his face.   
“Not enough!” Adrian finished. They moved in tandem, Nick went high and Adrian went low. Reily was too busy deflecting the blow headed for his face to see Adrian until he was knocked off his feet.   
“They’re going to lose.” Alec said.   
Jace glanced at him sideways, “How do you figure that?”   
Alec smiled, a real smile, one reserved for family. “They forgot about Izzy.”   
Isabelle stood off to the right, having just recovered from a devastating blow, her whip sailed through the air, and wrapped around Nick’s wrist. She started walking towards Nick, she pulled and he stumbled towards her. She connected her foot to Nick’s chest, and sent him flying into Adrian.   
“We win.” Izzy said, helping Reily up.   
“Well done.” Adrian groaned, pushing Nick off of him and standing up.   
“Weren’t good enough.” Reily mocked, standing next to Nick, bending over slightly. Nick narrowed his eyes, his hand shot out and pulled Reily down. Nick flipped over and straddled Reily, his hands resting lightly on Reily’s chest.   
“Ha!” Nick announced. Adrian shook his head exasperatedly, and Izzy laughed.   
Jace turned to ask Alec how he knew, but the other boy was nowhere to found. Jace’s eyebrows furrowed, he looked back up to the ring, and saw Nick straddling Reily.   
“Oh.” He said softly, he touched the parabatai rune over his heart, and nearly stumbled at the rage rolling through the connection, but under all of the anger, he could feel Alec’s pain. 

Alec stood in the training room, his bare hands dripping blood onto the wood floor, his breathing heavy.   
Nick sat at the dinner table, surrounded by his closest friends. But something was wrong, someone was missing. Alec.   
Nick’s eyes wandered around the room.   
“Something’s wrong.” He murmured, standing up. Jace shot him a concerned look, Nick touched his chest, Jace copied the action. Jace’s eyes widened, he flexed his hands, and when he looked back up Nick was gone. That had been enough.   
“You know, you were always the person I looked up too.” Nick’s voice cut through the silence that had been surrounding Alec since he broke his left hand, “It wasn’t Jace, not Robert, not Hodge. It was you. I was so fascinated by you. You were everything I could never be. You were smart, clever, strong and focused. You were the perfect Shadowhunter.”  
Nick sat down in front of Alec, who held his broken hand to his chest, eyes intently focused on Nick. Nick kept his gaze on his lap.   
“I thought it would decrease the more i gotta know you. But it didn’t. To me, your flaws made you better, not worse.”   
“Nick.” Alec hoarsely whispered. “Please-”  
Nick reached out and took Alec’s broken hand, he pulled his steele from his waistband. He began tracing an iratze on Alec’s forearm.   
Alec silently begged him to look up and meet his eyes.   
“I understand that you’re not ready yet. I do, but please don’t do this. Don’t hurt yourself. There is nothing wrong with you.” Nick dropped Alec’s arm and stood, he a hand through his hair. Alec stood too.   
Alec swallowed harshly, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”   
Nick nodded, his head down, his hair dangling in his face. He pressed his lips together and finally looked up. “Yeah.”   
And then Nick was gone. 

“Has anyone seen Nick?” Adrian inquired, sipping his coffee the next morning. They all shook their heads, and frowned, even Clary, who didn’t know the man.   
“No, not since dinner last night.” Jace said, worry etched across his face, “He went to look for Alec.”  
They all turned to look at Alec, who didn’t meet anyone’s eyes, “He came to see me. Then he left. I don’t know where he went.”   
“Well that’s helpful.” Riley scoffed, Adrian shot him a dirty look.   
“It’s not my business to know every move Nick makes.” Alec rebuttals, he crossed his arms over his chest.   
“No, because you wouldn’t care at all.” The two engaged in a staring contest until Isabelle sighed deeply.   
“Okay! Neither of you are helping!” Izzy exclaimed, “Look, we all know Nick, he’s probably passed out in someone’s bed after a long night of partying. He’ll show up later.”   
Adrian and Riley exchanged a confused and surprised look. Adrian brushed his hand against his lower abdomen, concern flashed across his face.   
“What?” Jace asked.   
“He, uh,” Riley muttered, “He wasn’t like that back home.”   
“Not you,” Jace said, staring intently at Adrian, “You. What is it?”   
“I can’t feel him.” Adrian said, concern leaking out of his tone, with underlying panic. “I can’t feel Nick.”   
“What?” Alec demanded, “How does that even happen?”   
“There’s two ways, one, Nick is being cloaked by a warlock, or two, he’s dead.”   
“No, you would have felt Nick die.” Riley dismissed.   
Adrian shook his head, “Not if he was being cloaked.”   
“Let’s not go there.” Clary spoke up, drawing the attention in the room to her. “Think on the positive, who’s the warlock Nick would go to if he wanted to be cloaked?”   
“But why would he want-” Alec started.   
“Magnus Bane.” Isabelle interrupted, her eyes downcast. “He would go to Magnus.”   
“Why?” Jace asked, confused.   
“Because they’re friends.” Izzy mumbled.   
“Why didn’t we know about this?” Alec inquired, crossing his arms over his chest and ignoring the sting of betrayal. He knew what Izzy meant when she said they were friends.   
“He didn’t want you too.” Clary guessed, Izzy nodded. Alec scoffed and stormed out of the room, in the direction of the weapons room.   
The others quickly followed him. Alec ripped his bow off the stand and shoved a quiver full of arrows on his back.   
“Whoa whoa whoa!” Jace exclaimed, pushing Alec back gently. “We have to consider the possibility that Nick is there willingly.”   
“Why would he willingly help Nick but not Clary?! He refused to help her get her memories back, why in the angle would he help Nick?!”   
“Magnus and i aren’t friend, Nick and Magnus are.” Clary whispered, a metaphorical light bulb appearing over her head, she looked up, her eyes full of fire. “Let’s just go ask!”   
Jace and Alec began to argue, over going or not. Izzy interrupted, “Hey! Clary and I will go, you two idiots will stay here. ‘Kay?”   
“But-” Izzy raised a finger, effectively cutting off Alec.   
“It wasn’t really a question.” Before Alec and Jace could comprehend what was happening, the two girls had disappeared. And they were headed for Magnus Bane’s loft.


	3. Chapter 3

Nick was sprawled out on a couch, in a tastefully decorated apartment. He had a martini in one hand and a t.v remote in the other.   
“Well, don’t you look cosy.” An amused voice said from the doorway. Nick looked up and met the yellow cat eyes of Magnus Bane.   
“I am.” Nick shot back, a smirk on his face, “You look tired.”   
“I am.” Magnus responded, sitting next to Nick on the couch, perching his feet on the coffee table in front of him.   
Magnus suddenly tensed up, and tilted his head slightly, his cat eyes flashed.   
“Your friends are here.” Magnus said, Nick groaned and threw his head back dramatically.   
“You up and disappear for one day…” Nick dramatic monologue was cut off by Isabelle and Clary bursting through the doors, weapons at the ready. Nick raised a single eyebrow, and took a sip of his martini.   
“Hey.” He greeted casually. “What’s up?”   
“Don’t ‘what’s up’ me.” Isabelle spat, her whip circling anxiously around her wrist. “What the hell were you thinking?”   
“I was thinking that a martini and one day without drama sounded nice.” Nick responded, kicking his feet up onto Magnus’ coffee table. He smiled at the two girls sarcastically and gestured to the door. “I’m sure you can show yourselves out.”   
“We’re not leaving.” Izzy said sharply. Clary held out a placating hand, she slipped her seraph blade into the back of her jeans.   
“Adrian and Riley are worried about you.” Clary said. Only Magnus was close enough to see Nick tense up slightly.   
“Then be a doll and give them the address.”   
Isabelle’s eyes flashed dangerously, “What the hell is wrong with you?”   
“Nothing. I’m not the one bursting in unannounced into people’s homes and assuming things, now am I?” Nick, once again, smiled sarcastically. Hurt flashed across Izzy’s face, she turned on her heel and stormed out of Magnus’ flat.   
Clary stared at him for a beat, “Alec is worried. We all are.” 

“Damn it!” Alec yelled, he swung his hand into a glass vase and it shattered it on impact. Jace ran into the room, his seraph blade at the ready, but he froze at the sight of his parabatai standing in a circle of broken glass and wood.   
“Alec…” Jace trailed off as he approached the brunette.   
Alec was breathing heavily, his hands had cuts scattered all over them and his eyes were red.   
“What happened?” Jace asked, he grasped Alec’s forearms and gently pulled him away from the wreckage.   
"Izzy and Clary found Nick." Alec finally said.   
Jace shot him a confused look, "isn't that a good thing?"  
Alec yanked his arm from Jace's grip, his eyes on fire, "Do you see him here?!" He spat. "No, because he didn't come home!”   
“Alec, it’s okay. Nick always comes home.” Jace said, hoping to calm Alec down. It worked. He saw the fire go out in Alec’s eyes, his posture slumped.   
“We fought.” Alec said, his voice breaking, “Before Nick left. We fought and I think it really upset him.”   
“Then go apologize.” Jace replied, he placed his hand on the side of Alec’s neck. Alec nodded, he clapped Jace on the back as he left the room. 

All Nick wanted was some peace and fucking quiet. That’s why he left the institute and went to Magnus’ apartment. And then was a dick to Clary and Isabelle when they came. He wanted time to fucking think.   
Now he was pacing back and forth across the living room floor, running his hands through his hair every few seconds, and waiting for Alec to burst through the door. Magnus had alerted him to the presence of the other shadowhunter a few minutes ago.   
But now Alec was just standing on Magnus’ front porch, not coming nor going and it was driving Nick crazy. He ran his hand through his hair once more, and then stormed over to Magnus’ front door. He threw it open and resisted the urge to smile when Alec jumped.   
“What?” Nick demanded, he leaned against the door and crossed his arms. Alec opened and closed his mouth multiple times before sighing and running a hand over his face. Nick raised his eyebrows, as if saying, ‘well?”   
“I’m sorry.” Alec said finally.   
Nick tilted his head, confusion written on his face, “What for?”   
“I lied to you.”   
Nick’s mouth nearly dropped open. Alec was actually doing this. Nick stepped forward, and gently shut the door behind him. He stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans, and waited for Alec to continue. Nick refused to rush him on this.   
“I just- I think-” Alec cut himself off, he took a deep breath and dropped his eyes from Nick’s, “I like guys. I’m gay.”   
“Okay.” Nick responded, a half smile on his face. Alec’s face morphed into surprise.   
“You don’t care?”  
“No, why would I?” Nick asked, not noticing the flash of hurt across Alec’s face, “I am bisexual, Alec. I like guys too.”   
“Yeah, I know, it’s just-” Alec cuts himself, “You’re right. It’s not a big deal. Thank you, for understanding.”   
Nick smiled and took a step forward, he clapped Alec on the back, “Let’s go get food to celebrate your coming out!”   
Alec chuckled and stuck his hands into his jeans pocket.


End file.
